Taught by Mike Billington, EIR Asia Desk. The role of Confucianism in Chinese history is key to understanding China’s current leadership in the creation of the New Paradigm. Within the depths of Chinese history, this goes back to the conflict of Confucius and Mencius against Daoism and legalism in ancient China, the role of Zhu Xi and the Song Dynasty Confucian Renaissance in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the Confucian views of Sun Yat-sen in the 20th century. This Confucian tradition is in harmony with the humanist currents of western thought, typified by the contributions of Socrates and Plato, Nicholas of Cusa, and Friedrich Schiller.